The swimmers, aged 24 to 64, began their bid at Dover and arrived near Calais after swimming for a combined 23 hours and 16 minutes.

The women, all from the Serpentine Swim Club at London’s Hyde Park, hope the sponsored swim will raise 50,000 English pounds.

Clare Doyle, 64, Martha Fray, 56, Lorraine Jones, 56, Anne Macalpine-Leny, 51, Maree Mitchell, 31, and Sophie Rutenbar, 24, took turns in two- hour stints to cover 34 kilometres across the channel.

Back in Bathurst Ms Mitchell’s parents, Noel and Jill Mitchell were kept up to date as the women made the swim.

“When ever she [Maree] was on the support boat she send us text message letting us know how it was all going,” Mr Mitchell said.

“We are just so proud of all of the girls and how they have gone.”

Mr Mitchell said his daughter was a keen endurance athlete and has competed in triathlons, marathons and long bike rides.

However that did not stop him from getting the shock of his life when Maree told him about her latest adventure.

“I nearly had a heart attack when she first told me,” he said.

“I don’t know where she got it [her endurance] from because these events would be too much hard work for me.”

Things did not start well for the group when their original start time had to be put back a night due to rough seas.

Once they got started though it was pretty smooth going according to Mr Mitchell.

Maree, a former Eglinton Public and Bathurst High student, graduated with a degree in Nursing from Charles Sturt University.

She now works in the Theatre and Recovery Units at the London Clinic in Harley Street.

“We are just so proud of her and everything she has done,” Mr Mitchell said. “To cross the English Channel is a pretty amazing feat.”

The money the group raised will go to the UK-based charity Afghan Mother and Child Rescue.

The 10-bed hospital will be built in a remote area of Panjsher province in partnership with Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health.